So just like everyone and their mother you got the Icelandic travel bug huh?! Well there’s a good explanation on how that bug slowly worked its way into your brain. You see after Iceland’s economic crisis in 2008 the country started a huge push on marketing to foreign visitors. It worked, it worked maybe too well.

This small island country, that only has 350,000 residents with 150,000 living in the Reykjavík area alone, served over 2.1 million tourist in 2017. That number has been growing yearly… back in 2010 there were only half a million Iceland visitors! Because of this surge in tourism growing pains have hit the country. From issues in infrastructures to protecting the land.

Who knows what the future of tourism in Iceland holds. There have been talks to tax foreigners or even put a tourism cap on popular site. Whatever happens just know this… Iceland is beautiful. And before you visit just do some research on the country, respect the culture, the land, the people and most importantly enjoy Iceland. It’s great to be a tourist but remember you’re exploring someone else’s home, it’s a privilege!

Now enough of my rant. Let’s talk about what you really came here for… Top Tips when visiting Reykjavík. This way you can look less like a tourist and more like a local. Read on, take notes, save this post cause you’re going to want to remember these tips for your visit to The Land of Fire and Ice!

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Tour The City

To get your bearings straight and to start learning more about the city, I would recommend starting your trip with a tour of Reykjavík. This way you can learn a bit about the culture and history of Iceland. I opted for a tour with City Walk Reykjavík. We explored quite a bit of the city, got recommendations on where to eat, where to shop, and how to not break the bank when visiting Iceland. We also got a brief history lesson and learned from a local what Icelandic culture is like.

There are a variety of other tours as well. Some focus on things like food or local hot spots and there is even a pub crawl tour. However I picked City Walk’s History and Culture Walk of Reykjavík because it was free (donatations are accepted after the tour), it had great reviews on TripAdvisor, and tours are led by local students who are studying history at uni.

Additional Notes

• You must book in advance and booking opens roughly 5 days in advance.
• They’ve NEVER cancelled a tour so expect to explore in rain, wind, snow, you name it! (It rained throughout my entire tour and we still had a blast.)
• You’ll walk aout 1.3 kilometers in total.
• You’ll start and end at different locations in the city
  

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What About Food

Now I’m sure you’ve read all about how expensive food is in Iceland and I’m here to tell you it’s no joke. I didn’t eat a meal out at a restaurant at all during my stay. I thought I would at least have a sit down meal at a lovely Icelandic restaurant at least once. But after spending roughly $20.00 in a coffee shop on a specialty espresso and a muffin I started to lack enthusiasm for the fine dining experience.

So I have some tips to save you a great deal of money on food. And you totally don’t have to be like me and not even eat out once…but you do need to be prepared for a hefty bill, especially if you’ll also be enjoying alcoholic beverages.

Bónus will be your best friend! Bónus is an Icelandic budget grocery store that you’ll want to hit up upon arrival to stock up your kitchen. Oh which also brings me to…make sure you’re booking your stay at a place where you can cook your own food. Or at the very least a hotel/hostel that has a free breakfast! But honestly with food being so expensive you’ll want the option to cook a lot of your meals and pack your lunches. So, in my opinion, a kitchen is a must!

Bónus has tons of options that we’re accustomed to at home. There are just a couple things to be aware of (1) meat is very expensive so you may become a vegetarian over your stay (2) try Ísey Skyr it’ll probably remind you of yogurt however it’s classified as a cheese (3) Icelanders LOVE candy so try some local favs, here you can take a look at some favorites.

Here is a fantastic blog post with a guided tour of a Bónus grocery store. Be sure to check it out.

Another way to save some dough is to eat like a local. Icelanders love hot dogs and these bad boys are tasty and cheap. Made with lamb, beef, and pork these dogs have a different taste to them compared to US hot dogs.

The most famous hot dog stand in Reykjavík is Bæjarins beztu pylsur, English translation… “The best hot dog in town”. Bill Clinton even visited and rumor has it he said it was the best hot dog he’d ever tasted. Founded in 1937 this hot dog stand quite often has lines wrapping around building. No surprise here when you’re able to purchase a hot dog with “the works” and a soda for under 1,000 króna. So put this on your to do list while in Reykjavík.

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Coffee Culture At It’s Finest

I would highly suggest trying coffee at a couple different amazing coffee shops while in Reykjavík. And quite honestly if you’re a coffee drinker you’ll have to go on the coffee hunt because (brace yourself for this) there is no Starbucks! The absolute horror. Ha! Hopefully you’ll survive!

What’s interesting is that Iceland has a very much so thriving and important coffee culture when there is absolutely nothing Icelandic about coffee. Iceland has to import all of it’s coffee beans and they travel pretty far just to get to Iceland. And quite often visitors admit they were served the best cup of Joe they’ve ever had in Iceland. So it’s without a doubt worth a try to track down some coffee on your visit.

My favorite and arguably the most famous coffee house in Reykjavík is Reykjavík Roasters. With two locations in Reykjavík why not try them both! Their goal is to give you the best cup of coffee and they provide the perfect atmosphere to enjoy your perfect cup of coffee. They import their coffee beans from around the world, looking for the perfect beans. Because of this they don’t always have the same coffee, but don’t fret because it will always be amazing. Here are just a few of the areas they import beans from; Costa Rica, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

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Urban Hike Hunting Murals

Reykjavík is very well known for its beautiful street art also known as “wall poetry”. It’s a fantastic treasure hunt to walk around and discover all the colorful murals covering Reykjavík. Check out this post where you can take a tour through the streets of Reykjavík.

Most of the murals you see are commissioned by the city. They work with artists who then create these fabulous works of art for all visitors to enjoy. I highly recommend taking a day or even a couple hours to stroll around and search for wall poetry. Bring your camera and let the treasure hunt begin!

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Meet an Icelandic Horse

Ah the ever popular Icelandic horse. These horses are known for their mild temper, great personalities, and strong study stature. It’s very important that you don’t call one of these Icelandic horses a pony. It’s incredibly insulting to locals. I even heard funny phrases like,”feel free to call me whatever you want, but don’t you dare call my horse a pony“!

On your stay it’s pretty much mandatory that you meet one of these guys, they’re famous in Iceland. With that being said a lot of people just pull off to the side of the road when they see the horses, run over to someone’s property, and start snapping photos with the horses. I personally find this incredibly rude and quite honestly dangerous.

First of all the roads in Iceland are very narrow and usually have only one lane in either direction. Locals told me horror stories of deadly accidents caused by tourists parking their car alongside the road to snap these pics. Then to make matters worse I even saw people hopping over fences onto private properties to get their photos. You think that’s bad it gets even worse, locals told me that people often feed the horses to get their attention. However without knowledge of the horses diet they are potentially making the horses sick and owners have no clue what their horses have eaten since the tourists are long gone with their epic pic.

So there’s a better and much safer way to get your photo with an Icelandic horse. Book yourself a horsebacking riding tour or horse meet and greet. There are so many options for horsebacking riding in Iceland I honestly don’t know where to start. However, a lot of the horseback riding tours were pretty expensive, and I have done by fair share of horsebacking riding, so I went with the second option…the horse meet and greet.

I booked my tour with Íshestar. For a great price I was able to learn about the Icelandic horse and walk through the daily routine of taking care of the horses. Feeding them, brushing them, and well let’s be honest…attempting to snuggle them. It was a great experience and I even got the option to ride an Icelandic horse around the paddox in the end. This experience helped me save money since it was less than a riding tour, and I was able to get my picture with an Icelandic horse in a safe environment. Here is the tour option.

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Get A Bird’s Eye View

So there are mixed feelings on heading to the top of Hallgrímskirkja for a birds eye view of the city. Some feel like the price is too steep for what you get and others think it’s the best place to take in the city of Reykjavík. I wanted to see for myself and make my own judgement on getting a view from above.

What I take from venturing up the 73 meter tower in the church, to take the city in is that it’s a fun experience. The tower is actually one of the most visited tourist destination in the city. However I do have a strange obsession with maps (topographic maps, road maps, climate maps, etc.). I always like to know where I am and where I am in relation to other things (cities, countries, continents, etc.). Getting that birds eye view makes me feel like I’m looking down on a real life map. So I really enjoyed the experience.

I headed up on my second to last day which made it more exciting because I was able to get a birds eye view of all the places I had been and see their relationship to one another. Plus you don’t get to see the colorful rooftops from the street level. It’s a unique and special aspect of the city that you can only view from above. I can only imagine how awesome the view is on a snow covered day, probably breathtaking. So I say go ahead and splurge, spend the money, and get a birds eye view of Reykjavík. Check out the church website for more information. As of April 2017 the price to head up the tower was 1000 ISK for adults.

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Additional Information and Fun Facts

• Majority of people in Iceland speak English. Icelanders start learning English in school at a very young age. Icelanders speak Icelandic, Danish, and English.
• Try to learn some of the Icelandic language. Locals are extremely friendly and really enjoy answering your questions about Iceland and their language. They love when you take an interest in their culture and language. It very much so flatters them.
• Icelandic Common Phrases.
• There is no word for please in the Icelandic language.
• Check out Iceland’s budget airline Wow air where you can find inexpensive flights.
• Kolaportið Flea Market where you can find cheaper prices on souvenirs.

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Takk fyrir…Adventure Awaits!